“Disobedience and Arrogance”: Partridge Exposes How PSPTF Defied Orders in K128.7bn Amaryllis Deal

Registrar of Financial Institutions George Partridge has delivered a strong and detailed account of how trustees of the Public Service Pension Trust Fund (PSPTF) ignored regulatory authority and proceeded with the controversial K128.75 billion Amaryllis Hotel deal.

Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee, Partridge said his office had issued a clear directive ordering the trustees to immediately stop all transactions related to the hotel purchase. He emphasized that this order was never withdrawn at any point.

However, despite this, the trustees went ahead and completed the deal at high speed, something Partridge described as shocking and unacceptable.

His main concern was direct and serious: the trustees knowingly disobeyed a lawful regulatory directive.

“What happened was an act of disobedience… bordering on arrogance,” Partridge told the committee, making it clear that this was not a misunderstanding but a deliberate decision.

Partridge explained that during a detailed inspection of the pension fund in August 2025, his office had established that earlier boards of trustees were not in support of buying the Amaryllis Hotel. This meant the investment was already considered questionable.

But things changed when a new board was put in place later in 2025. According to Partridge, the new board revived interest in the deal and began pushing it forward.

What alarmed regulators even more was the speed at which the transaction was handled.

“It came as a surprise when we discovered the fund was progressing with the transaction at a lightning speed,” he said, adding that the pace did not match the size, cost, and complexity of such a major investment involving pensioners’ money.

Partridge also raised serious doubts about the due diligence process. He revealed that the decision to proceed with the deal appears to have relied on advice from a firm that spent only one day analysing the transaction. This, he suggested, raises major concerns about whether proper financial and operational assessments were ever conducted.

Following these developments, the regulator escalated the matter by involving the Financial Intelligence Authority to track and investigate the flow of money linked to the deal for possible financial crimes.

He disclosed that some of the funds connected to the transaction have already been frozen as part of ongoing investigations.

In addition, National Bank of Malawi and CDH Bank have been directed to reverse the transactions, treat the loans as unpaid, and hold the money until the investigations are completed.

The developments point to a deeper problem within the pension fund—where governance structures may have been ignored and key decisions made without proper oversight, despite clear warnings from regulators.

Partridge’s testimony has now raised critical questions: why did the trustees ignore direct instructions, what changed within the new board to push the deal forward, and whether those responsible will be held accountable for exposing pensioners’ funds to such high risk.

At the center of it all is Partridge’s core issue—a breakdown of respect for regulatory authority, which he says cannot be allowed to stand if Malawi’s financial system is to maintain credibility and protect public funds.

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